


Shelter

by Steamed_Tets



Category: The Property of Hate
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-07
Updated: 2020-04-07
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:08:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23529694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Steamed_Tets/pseuds/Steamed_Tets
Summary: I'll give them shelter like you've done for me, and I know I'm not alone. You'll be watching over us until you're gone.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 35





	Shelter

RGB had never considered himself to be a protector, more like a guide. Someone who guided Heroes to the end of the story, or in most cases their ultimate demise. Sort of. But she was different, so small in stature but so stubborn in nature. She didn’t want to be a Hero anymore, but she was so determined to save everyone she could or to help everyone “because that’s what heroes do!” she said. She’d said that  _ he _ had been a shelter for her so many times. He took her to Madras to have her schism fixed with dreams, he’d let her watch telly in the graveyard, he held her hand through the dark going into the market, even going so far as to tell her a story. 

In truth, he had never considered any of that to be true significance. He was just playing his role as the guide in this story. But, he supposed, such things like that and the incident with Click would stick in the mind of a six-year-old. His screen nearly poured blue at the thought of this. He’d put an actual child, a six-year-old, through incredibly traumatizing events in an attempt to save the world that she didn’t belong in. A world she had no business at all being in. A story in which she was now forced to play the role of “protagonist”. It made him sick. It made him feel cowardly and small. 

The worst part of it was that no one else had seemed to consider this. Gladys being the possible exception. 

No one had truly stopped to consider her age in comparison to the horrors she was witnessing in this world. Being stabbed, leaping through rooftops, being shot at. The Nothing. No one had considered any of it. How a six-year-old shouldn’t have to worry about being impaled by black, spiked, horrors. How a six-year-old shouldn’t ever have to worry about being shot at. How a six-year-old should never have to worry about the fate of an entire world resting on her tiny shoulders. 

Yet he’d pulled her from her own world with that cursed question. Dripped with curiosity and wonder and yet so vile and sinister.  _ Do you want to be a Hero? _ Over the course of her own journey, he’d come to hate that phrase. Hate, the one force they were up against. What a vile phrase and what a horrible feeling to have. A feeling, it occurs to him as they walk through a barren field, that Hero herself had felt towards him not that long ago. She said she wanted to be a shelter for others much the same way he had been a shelter for her. Her words, not his. He wasn’t sure what that meant. Did she want to be a guide? To guide others whenever they were in need? That is what heroes did he supposed. They helped those in need whoever and wherever they were. But he was certain that she no longer wanted to be a hero. Not like this anyway. Maybe she had when he had first asked the vile question that would ruin her life as she knew it, but not now. Not like this. 

The dark trunks of trees made their way into view, shrouding them from the light around them, only small streaks of sunlight peaked in from the tops of the trees many meters above their heads. He looked up at them, unafraid of losing her as she held onto the hooked end of his cane. Bringing his head down to steal the smallest of glances at her, white hair bouncing with every step she took, he wondered what wonderful life he had ripped her away from. She had a mother, that much he knew, her quiet “I love you” before she left that world for this one said it all. Maybe she had a father too, busy with too many night shifts he assumed. He wondered what she had been like in school. Were her grades good? She was probably better at studying than he had been, though he didn’t remember much. Did she have friends and sleepovers like kids were meant to? Did she have any pets? Did she play any sports? 

The thoughts swam in his head and he was certain that, provided he could, he would vomit on the spot. He hated thinking about before. It only served to prove he’d gotten attached, something he hated even more. He didn’t want to make the end, provided they got that far, any harder for either of them than it had to be, but he was attached to her and he knew it. He wanted her to be the Hero to save this world from finding its ultimate demise. 

He shook his head again, trying to clear his thoughts. He didn’t want to think about this anymore that was for certain. Though in this dark forest, he wasn’t sure that something around him could particularly take his mind off of the horrifying thoughts in his head. He risked another glance in her direction and noticed she’d stopped skipping or bouncing around or whatever it was that she had been doing. She was looking around at all the trees around her and the seemingly plant-like structures deep within the forest off the beaten path. He turned away again, looking at the path ahead of them and tried to let his mind wander to happier thoughts. 

Though the will of his mind was not as strong as his heart this time it would seem. As his mind wandered back to thoughts about what she thought about the situation as a whole, though her thoughts were way beyond him, it didn’t hurt to wonder, he figured. He thought back to what she’d said, about wanting to be a shelter for others and how she had obviously portrayed that attitude even before she had said the philosophy allowed. She definitely had a good head on her shoulders at the least and that would be the most obvious, most blatant judge of her character. She had wanted to help in the market. When he had to tell her that everyone would leave this world in one way or another. She had wanted to help when someone had come into contact with the walls of the sea during their encounter with Click and he had to hold her back as if she were a mad dog. She  _ had _ helped Assok, giving up two of her very own fingers to pay for it in order to help Assok and make them happy. She’d wanted to help Julienne and Melody at the Lake of Tears and succeeded, surrendering her bones more or less in the process. RGB wasn’t sure to this minute if he was being honest with himself. 

She had all the makings of a modern-day hero, always getting up and continuing to fight no matter how hard the battle got or how rough the journey became. She really did have the true spirit of a hero deep down in her stubborn heart. It brought a smile to his face. Even though she no longer wanted to be the Hero for this world, for this story, deep down she still wanted to be a Hero for somebody. He hoped that, even if she couldn’t be a hero for someone else, she could be a hero for herself. She deserved that much. After everything he’d done to her. He could only hope that maybe one day after this journey was over the world was saved and she could return to her world, to her home, that she would forgive him. He wasn’t sure he deserved forgiveness, the horrors he’d done collecting heroes in an attempt to save this world surely would condemn him to the darkest pit in the deepest cave with Fears and Griefs to keep him company.

The thought alone sent a chill down his spine that made him shiver as though he just stepped through a door straight into the strongest blizzard on record. 

He heard her say something but hadn’t registered what, which snapped him back to reality where he turned to look at her. There was concern in her eyes, a frown on her face, her whole being just spelled out that she was worried about him. His zoning out must have caused her distress and knowing that only served to make his thoughts swell even more. 

He forced a smile, “It’s nothing! Just got a tad lost in my train of thought is all. Come along now, we should be almost out of the forest I believe.” And with that he faced forward and began walking again, not wanting to stare into her eyes any longer. 

He was too far gone in attachment to deny it now. Oh, if only Madras could see him now, she’d probably laugh and say that she’d told him so. Hero was soon by his side again and light poured over both of them from the other side of the forest. She let go of the cane, a wide smile plastered onto her face as she took off into the sunlight and the luscious green field and blue sky that awaited them outside of the dark forest. As he broke the barrier of the forest, watching Hero run around in the grass, he couldn’t stop another real smile from coming to his face, er screen. 

  
He wondered if maybe, somehow, by the will of Time or whoever else was out there, that he could keep doing whatever it was that made him a shelter for her to do a better job of protecting her, not just for the sake of the World of Make Believe, but for her own sake as well. He hoped he could keep doing whatever it was that inspired her to keep trying to be a shelter for other people. In a world full of bad and darkness, he wanted her to be the light, he wanted her to be the shelter, he wanted her to be  _ the _ Hero. He allowed himself into the light, his hat barely giving his screen any kind of shade, the smile still present on his face as the warmth of the suns enveloped him. Hero called out for him and he spotted her on the nearest hill waving him forward out of the darkness of the forest, and not even Hate herself could stop him from running at a full sprint to join her.

**Author's Note:**

> You'll never guess what song inspired this
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQnC1UHBvWA


End file.
